"So, this is why you guys called me here in such a rush?"
Shiina Taki stood with one hand on her hip, the other gripping the handle of a mop.
A sanitary cap was perched on her head, and she spoke in a tone of mild exasperation.
"Yep, hehe."
"Thanks for coming, Taki!"
Chiose and Tomori, dressed in matching outfits, stood on either side of her, wearing identical sheepish smiles.
"Honestly, what am I going to do with you two."
The thought that Yoshiiro Chiose had now been reduced to something of a small fry was enough that Shiina Taki couldn't keep the corners of her mouth from curling up.
[Bet you didn't see this coming, Little Chiose — in real life, I'm the one playing the role of looking after you! Haven't I grown so much!]
[Now! Who's the dumb little small fry around here!]
Taki's posture grew even straighter, her pride practically spilling off her face.
"What's gotten into Taki? She looks really happy?" Tomori leaned in close to Chiose's ear, baffled.
"I have no idea."
Yoshiiro Chiose blinked. She hadn't expected that asking Taki along to help clean the clubroom would make her so over-the-moon excited.
Isn't this manual labour?! What's there to be happy about!?
If I start a company one day, I'm definitely calling you in to work unpaid overtime.
That afternoon, Chiose had dragged Tomori off to look at the list of clubs, and on Tomori's decision they'd settled on joining the Astronomy Club.
The Astronomy Club's supervisor, Ms. Hiratsuka, had been absolutely thrilled — after all, the two of them were the only students this year who'd wanted to join.
So without a second's hesitation she'd handed the key to the Astronomy Club and the whole club itself over to the pair of them, then hopped into her red Aston Martin V8 Vantage and driven off campus to go drinking.
"By the way, is it really okay for Taki to just come straight onto our school grounds? If she gets caught, she's going to be in trouble, right?"
Yoshiiro Chiose tried to step forward and join Taki in the work, only for Taki to forcibly push her down onto a nearby chair to rest.
"Little Chiose, you don't need to do any heavy lifting — Tomori and I are more than enough for this… Hm? Get caught? If I get caught, I'll just make a run for it."
After all, Hane-oka was her alma mater.
Taki gave an unconcerned shrug, and Takamatsu Tomori didn't dare slack for even a moment either:
"Y-yeah! Little Chiose, you don't have to work — if you wear yourself out and end up hurt, that would be awful! Taki and I can handle this!"
"Ah… okay?"
How strange.
Yoshiiro Chiose blinked, bewildered.
She felt like she was being protected within an inch of her life — the way those two were acting, you'd think they were terrified she might keel over and die.
Did she really come across as that frail? She, Yoshiiro Chiose, was a tough girl, dammit.
Just the thought of being treated like some delicate invalid left Yoshiiro Chiose feeling a little sulky.
Could it be that this morning, when she'd shivered out of nowhere, Tomori had misread the situation?
Even that seemed off. It didn't quite add up.
"Hmph."
Chiose hopped up from the chair and snatched the rag right out of Tomori's hand.
"I'll go wipe down the door frame, alright?! You can't seriously expect me to do absolutely nothing."
Before either of them could get a word in, Chiose had already walked over to the door.
Carefully, she shut it behind her and set to work outside.
"That dummy…"
Taki couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from curling up — honestly, she'd been completely won over by how cute that little gesture from Chiose was.
"Taki, you really like Little Chiose, huh."
Takamatsu Tomori said it out of nowhere, leaving Taki entirely at a loss for how to respond.
"Eh? Yeah. Tomori likes Chiose as a friend too, right?"
"Y-yeah…"
Like?
Neither of them was quite sure which kind of 'like' the other meant — and neither dared ask.
[If Tomori's / Taki's 'like' for Chiose isn't the normal kind! Then we're in big trouble!]×2
That was the situation.
Tucked away in the shadows of the lively warmth were seeds of unease — and Chiose, all unaware, simply offered up prayers for the warmth itself.
There really wasn't much to wipe on the back of the door — a few quick swipes and it was clean.
Chiose was in no rush to head back in, so she followed the wall around to the window ledge and started wiping that down too.
The curtains inside were drawn, so Chiose couldn't see what was happening within — but maybe that was for the best.
"How come they're being so gentle with me? I'm completely overwhelmed."
She'd thought the Simulation had given her formidable mental fortitude — that she'd stopped fearing even sudden death.
But Chiose had been caught completely off guard by this unexpected outpouring of care.
She always felt a little undeserving of it, and kept wanting to do something for them in return.
Yet every time she did something for Taki and Tomori, they'd turn around and be twice as good to her.
This should have been a virtuous cycle — but it left Yoshiiro Chiose with more than a small twinge of guilt.
"Then I'll just have to make it up to them all the more, even if they weren't with me through the Simulations."
Once I've stockpiled plenty of lifespan, I'll share it out with everyone… The System is still selling youth… as long as I keep Simulating, everything can be kept in hand!
Everything is going to be alright.
From somewhere far off came the faint sound of a piano — tottering, faltering, like a fairy-tale castle on the verge of collapse.
"What's all this — God playing me background music while I'm hard at work?"
Chiose had just finished wiping the windows and was about to head back inside when Taki's voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Little Chiose! Don't come in yet! Tomori just accidentally broke a glass — there's shards all over the doorway!"
"C-cough, ugh, sorry, Little Chiose…"
The sound of Taki and Tomori's voices was honestly too funny.
What a pair of adorable little dummy small fry they were.
"Alright, I'll wait out here a bit longer then."
The piano was still drifting through the air; in the distance you could just make out clusters of schoolgirls heading home in chattering little groups, while inside the room the two dummies were hard at work. Everything was proceeding along a peaceful, steady track.
"This is really nice."
Chiose loitered in the corridor — except her steps were gradually leading her further and further away from the Astronomy Club room.
She was a bit curious — who exactly was playing the piano?
If she remembered correctly, the music clubs — the Brass Band Club and the like — hadn't even started up yet.
It surely couldn't be some down-on-her-luck rich young lady who'd once loved playing piano but didn't have the means anymore, sneaking in after school when no one was around for a quick fix at the keys.
Haha.
In any case… she couldn't really head back to the Astronomy Club just yet anyway, those dumb little small fry.
The corridor was silent — apart from the piano notes growing ever closer, Yoshiiro Chiose couldn't even hear her own footsteps.
As she walked, certain figures flashed through her mind — like the Sakiko Togawa next door.
That girl, too, could play the piano.
Such a shame she hadn't gotten to hear Little Soyo's performance through to the end in the Simulation. The opening had been pretty rough, but it had picked up later, carried along by Soyo's support —
Such a pity she hadn't heard it all.
At the door of the Brass Band Club room, Yoshiiro Chiose pushed it open just a crack and peered inside.
Swaying blue twin-tails paired with a slight, delicate frame, nimble fingers leaping across the keys. Sakiko Togawa — so it really was you.
Yoshiiro Chiose eased the door shut without a trace, thinking — better not to disturb her.
Maybe Sakiko really needed some time alone.
And besides, there were two dummies waiting for her back at the Astronomy Club.
Sakiko Togawa? See you next time.
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